The scent of pine and moonlight filled the air as Emma stood trembling before the entire Silvercrest Pack. Tonight was her eighteenth birthday—the night she'd discover her fated mate. The bonfire crackled, casting dancing shadows across the faces of the wolves gathered in the clearing. Her heart hammered against her ribs, a frantic drum counting down to her destiny.
Alpha Logan stood on the raised platform, his broad shoulders silhouetted against the full moon. At twenty-five, he was everything an Alpha should be—commanding, fiercely protective, devastatingly handsome. Emma had admired him from afar since childhood, a quiet hope blooming in her chest each time their paths crossed. Sometimes, she'd catch him watching her with an unreadable expression, his storm-gray eyes lingering a moment too long.
"The ceremony will begin!" announced Elder Marth, his voice echoing through the night.
One by one, the unmated wolves of age stepped forward. The Moon Goddess's magic thrummed in the air, a palpable energy that made Emma's skin prickle. When a pair recognized each other as mates, a silver glow would envelop them, and the pack would erupt in joyful howls.
Emma watched as her best friend, Clara, found her mate in a warrior named Finn. They embraced, glowing like twin stars, and Emma's eyes stung with happy tears. She was next.
"Emma Reed," Elder Marth called.
Her legs felt like water as she walked to the center of the clearing. The pack fell silent. This was the moment. She lifted her gaze to Alpha Logan, who had descended from the platform and now stood before her.
Their eyes met.
A jolt, like lightning, struck her core. The world narrowed to his face. Colors brightened; scents intensified. A silver thread, visible only to her, shimmered into existence, connecting her heart to his. The mate bond snapped into place, humming with ancient magic.
*Mate,* her wolf, Luna, whispered in her mind, a sound of pure wonder. *Our mate.*
Emma's breath caught. It was him. It had always been him. A radiant smile broke across her face, and she saw his eyes widen in recognition. For a heartbeat, pure, unadulterated joy flashed in his gray eyes.
Then, it vanished.
His expression shuttered, turning to cold stone. The silver glow that had begun to emanate from them sputtered and died. The magical thread connecting them didn't break—it strained, as if stretched to its limit.
"No," Logan said, his voice low but carrying across the silent clearing.
Confusion washed over Emma. "Logan?"
He didn't look at her. Instead, he turned his head toward the crowd. "Sienna. Come forward."
From the throng of pack members, Sienna Blackwood emerged. She was beautiful, with cascading auburn hair and a confident smile. The daughter of a powerful ally pack, she had arrived six months ago as a diplomatic guest and never left. She walked to Logan's side, slipping her hand into his.
A collective gasp rippled through the pack.
"Alpha Logan?" Elder Marth questioned, his brow furrowed.
"The Moon Goddess has made a mistake," Logan declared, his voice devoid of emotion. "My chosen mate is Sienna. She has strength, lineage, and the political alliance our pack needs. Emma is… not suitable."
Each word was a dagger to Emma's soul. *Not suitable.* The bond in her chest screamed in agony, a physical pain that doubled her over. She clutched her stomach, feeling as if she were being torn in two.
"The bond is real, Alpha," Elder Marth insisted, his tone grave. "To reject a fated bond is to defy the Goddess's will. It brings a curse of pain to both, and the rejected one will never feel a complete bond with another."
"I accept the consequences," Logan said, his jaw tight. Finally, he looked at Emma. His eyes were empty, a winter sky devoid of warmth. "I, Alpha Logan Thorne, reject you, Emma Reed, as my mate and Luna."
A searing, white-hot pain exploded in Emma's chest. The world went silent. The silver thread, once beautiful, turned black and brittle before shattering into a million dark shards that seemed to burrow under her skin. She fell to her knees, a broken sound escaping her lips. It felt like her wolf, Luna, was howling in a locked cage inside her.
"So be it," Elder Marth whispered, sounding ancient and tired.
Through a haze of pain, Emma saw Sienna's triumphant smile. She saw the pity and shock on the faces of her pack. She saw Logan, standing rigid, his hand clenched at his side, but his face unmoved.
"Emma," Clara cried, rushing forward, but Finn held her back, his face grim.
"The rejected must leave the ceremony ground," Elder Marth said softly, the rules of tradition forcing the words out.
Somehow, Emma found her feet. The pain was a living thing, gnawing at her insides, but a new sensation began to bloom beneath it—a cold, hard kernel of survival. She lifted her head, refusing to let the tears fall.
She looked Logan dead in the eye. "You may reject me, Alpha. But you cannot reject the truth. And you cannot reject what I am."
A faint, almost imperceptible tremor went through him. For a fraction of a second, the cold mask slipped, and she saw something else—not regret, but fear.
She turned and walked away from the fire, from the pack, from her shattered dreams. The forest embraced her, its darkness a comfort. She ran, not knowing where she was going, the physical agony of the rejection making every step torture.
Deep in the woods, she collapsed against the roots of an ancient oak, sobs finally wracking her body. The pain was unbearable. This was the infamous rejection pain she'd heard tales of—a suffering designed to deter wolves from such a sacred violation.
*Why?* she begged the silent moon. *Why would the Goddess give him to me if he didn't want me?*
*He is afraid.* Luna's voice was faint, strained by the broken bond, but present.
*Afraid of what?*
*Of us,* her wolf replied. *Of our power. I feel it now, waking up. Something… more.*
Before Emma could question her, a new scent cut through the pine—decay, iron, and malice. Her head snapped up. Two figures emerged from the shadows. They were not from her pack. Their eyes glowed a sickly yellow, and their auras felt wrong, twisted.
"Well, well," the larger one sneered. "The little rejected mate, all alone. Just as the Seer said."
"The Alpha was wise to cast her aside," the other hissed. "But our master is wiser. He knows her true value."
Emma scrambled back. "Who are you? What do you want?"
"We are the Hounds of the Eclipse," the first one said, advancing. "And we want the dormant power sleeping inside you, little True Luna."
*True Luna?* The term meant nothing to her, but it sent a shock through Luna.
*Run!* her wolf screamed.
Emma ran. Branches whipped her face, roots tried to trip her, but terror lent her speed. The hunters were faster. One lunged, his claws grazing her back. She cried out, stumbling.
A roar shattered the night.
A massive gray wolf—Logan—slammed into her pursuer, knocking him aside. He stood between Emma and the hunters, his fur bristling, a savage snarl on his lips. He had followed her.
"Touch her again and you die," Logan growled, his Alpha power rolling off him in waves.
The Hounds hesitated, snarling. "She will be ours, Alpha. You may have rejected the bond, but you cannot protect her from what is coming. The Eclipse rises. Her power will be harvested, and your pack will burn."
With that, they melted back into the shadows.
Logan shifted back to human form, his chest heaving. He turned to Emma, his eyes no longer cold, but blazing with a fury and something else—possession.
"You're bleeding," he said, his voice rough.
"Why did you come?" Emma whispered, the rejection pain flaring anew in his presence.
He didn't answer. He stared at her as if seeing her for the first time. The fear she'd glimpsed earlier was now plain in his eyes. "What did they call you?"
"I don't know."
"Emma…" He took a step toward her, then stopped, his fists clenched. The broken bond between them writhed in the space, a phantom limb of agony. "You are in danger. More than I understood."
"You gave up the right to care about my danger," she said, finding strength in the anger that began to thaw her numbness.
He flinched. "I had reasons. Political stability. The pack's future…"
"You chose power over a mate," she finished for him, rising shakily. "Now I have to choose survival over you. Stay away from me, Alpha."
She turned to leave, but his words stopped her.
"They called you 'True Luna.' In the oldest legends, it's a title for a she-wolf born once a millennium. A direct vessel of the Moon Goddess's own power. A power every dark force in our world would kill to possess… or to destroy."
Emma froze, a chill that had nothing to do with the night seeping into her bones. The strange awakening she'd felt, Luna's cryptic words—it all clicked into a terrifying puzzle.
She looked over her shoulder at the man who was her fated, yet forbidden, mate. "What does that mean?"
Logan's face was grim, the weight of the world upon it. "It means the game has changed, Emma. I rejected my mate. But an enemy has declared war on the True Luna. And whether I like it or not… you are still mine to protect."
Alone in the dark, with enemies in the shadows and a rejected bond screaming in her heart, Emma understood one thing. Her journey had not ended with the rejection. It had just begun. She had to discover who—and what—she truly was, before the forces seeking her power destroyed everything and everyone she'd ever loved.